This is a fraction of what we will look like at the airport. Packing light for 33, no way! The Director began packing 2 weeks ago and is now beginning the final purge and repack.

How many boys and parents began the packing yesterday, the Saturday before departing?Tour is as much an education for parents as it is for the boys. “How do I let my 10 year old pack his own suitcase so that he knows what he has and where his belongings are within the traveling closet?” vs. “How do I get it right for him?” Oh the opportunities that await, both the known and the hidden.

We hope you will join us on our journey. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter there are a numerous ways even just right here in WordPress.

The start of an adventure. It has been years in the making. It was summer tour 2010 on tour in Baltimore when we said let’s go to South Africa for the 50th Anniversary Summer Concert Tour of the Singing Boys of Houston, now Houston Boychoir. So for the next two seasons we did a little extra fundraising and worked ahead and then the real planning began in the spring of 2012.

Thank goodness for the internet. We had our dear Jannie to send the names of choirs to contact and so it began. A wonderful agenda has been put together for the education of the boys both musical, geographical and social. But before we leave there is the packing.

Now as a traveler, I believe in going it light but not when traveling with HBC. Then it is traveling for 35. What do we need? Med forms, uniforms, gifts, first aid kits, extra ties, extra music, permissions and passports. New communication accessories and lists and more lists.

It’s 13 days until we leave. It is 8:30 PM as I write this and 13 days from now, we will be half way to Amsterdam and less than a third of the way to our first destination of Cape Town.

I hope you’ll join us as we go. If you want to send advice on travel, do so before July 16th. By then we will be up in the air and off and running.

2010 on tour when we decided to go to South Africa. Look everybody likes the news

To be a member of the Houston Boychoir is to experience life in ways that are unique to the average boy between the ages of 10 and 18. On such opportunity came when we decided to take our talents into the Texas Medical Center this holiday season.

It was a beautiful morning on December 8th when the boys of the Chamber Choir set out for Texas Children’s Hospital to spread good cheer and sing.

This was a new experience for these boys and in the early morning chill didn’t know what the day would bring.

Santa’s Medical Center Workshop where we warmed up and sang a few carols for the early morning hospital shift as they arrived.

Singing began in the lobby when who did we meet but HBC Friend, Harris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia and his crew, there to bring presents to the children.

The great discipline taught through the study of music creates boys who are unique in their ability to emulate the adults they meet and adapt to the expectations of the environment they visit. And so the boys had the privilege to enter the floors and sing for the patients, their families and the all important hospital staff, doctors, nurses, aides, technicians, all who were there on a Saturday working in an emotionally charged atmosphere with children and health concerns.

Boys had the opportunity to sing for patients while on dialysis and their parents who sit with them tirelessly. The nurses on staff seemed to enjoy the joy of the singing as much or even more than anybody.

We hear they have few visitors on Saturdays and everybody seemed to be glad we were there. We could tell because we heard them singing along.

It was a privilege to be in the hospital and we knew it. After dialysis it was time for lunch so we went to the cafeteria where we were treated to cheese and pepperoni pizzas. Always a favorite with singing boys!

Of course all the hospital staff and some patients who were having lunch in the cafeteria wanted to hear Christmas carols too so we sang for them. The cafeteria lady who worked the cash register grinned the whole time!

All in all it was a trip to be remembered. At the next rehearsal the boys talked about how much it meant to them to be so close to the people in the hospital, the children, their parents and the staff.

To sing and to see on all the faces the sadness that comes from being in the hospital and the joy the boys could bring singing.

Boys arrived in the morning at the church eager to swap stories about where they stayed and what their families were like. After hearing their stories and watching them bask in their new-found royalty, it is easy to see why they enjoy the event. Some of the boys were taken to the Big Dam Bridge, which they liked saying over and over and over again. Two of the boys saw fireflies for the first time. Now there’s a reason to get out of the city!! Boys are treated to baskets of snacks in their rooms and a few were taken to Five Guys for burgers, though they already had eaten dinner! Michael said his family’s home was like a palace and I am wondering if perhaps the adults might not like to billet in homes and be indulged in the manner to which they would like to become accustomed. After endless one-up-man-ship, it was time to settle in to the purpose of our business. Warm up the body, mind, and spirit and be prepared to enhance a congregation’s worship experience through music as only they can sing it.

A congregational point of view.

The rest of the day was spent in play. Work hard play hard. A beautiful countryside estate afforded the boys swimming, canoeing, tennis and their beloved basketball!! Then began a water game where one small tennis ball entertained 17 boys for hours!

All in all, a good day where the sun shone down on boys who sing and home they went, exhausted and happy.